How Asher Trained his Dragon
by TheSenjuMan
Summary: Male!Astrid Fem!Hiccup, Role-reversal. Asher's not the best Viking and not the best people-person. He's grouchy, sarcastic, bitter, and hostile. But when he meets an injured NightFury, he forms a spectacular, forbidden bond, and learns how to be a better person. I changed the summary, too boring.
1. This is Berk Amazing isn't it?

**Genderbent, Role-Reversal version of HTTYD. What if Astrid (Asher) was the fuck-up and Hiccup (Hicca) was the badass. Enjoy my little rendition.**

'This is Berk. It's about twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word? Sturdy, and it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunset. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice, or mosquitoes.'

We have dragons.

I slammed the door shut behind me as a super bright red dragon shot a big cluster of fire straight at it. I could feel the burning heat through the door as my back pressed into it, and though I wasn't strong at all I managed to keep the door shut. Then I peeked out, checked that the coast was clear, and dashed outside into the chaos.

Fighting dragons is everything around here. Most people would leave. Not us. We're Vikings. We've got stubbornness issues.

A giant brown dragon that looked like a cross between a pig and a bumblebee flew past me. A Viking was hanging off its head, whacking it with a stone hammer. It was having absolutely zero effect.

There's me. Asher River Hofferson. By the way, great name, huh? It's not the worst, I'll admit; parents think that if their kid has a hideous name then it'll scare off trolls and dragons and shit. I don't know my parents, so I wouldn't know this for sure.

I tripped over a rock and landed on my back on the grassy floor. I gasped as a large, menacing looking Viking landed almost on top of me and let out a loud battle cry. When he saw it was just me, he gave me a sloppy grin and said, "'Mornin'!" before springing up and dashing off back into battle.

I got up too and kept running, trying to find a place where I could be safe and help out at the same time. As I ran, every single person I passed yelled at me. "What are you doing out here?" "Get back inside!" "Get in the house!" I ignored them and keep going, but before I could get any further, a large hand grabbed my vest from behind and pulled me back, my feet dangling about two feet off the ground. The hand belonged to a huge Viking with a large red beard and a moustache. "Asher?" he said in quite the annoyed tone. "What are you—who let you out? Get in the house!" He threw me on the floor, and I quickly got up and ran away from him.

That's Stoick the Vast, chief of our tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean of its shoulders. Do I believe it? I don't know, ask him.

I glanced back behind me and saw him punch a dragon right in the snout. He turned to one of his men and asked in a commanding voice, "What have we got?"

"Gronkles, Nadders, Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoerk saw a Monstrous Nightmare," the Viking reeled off.

"Any Night Furies?" demanded Stoick.

The Viking shook his head. "Not so far."

Stoick nodded and absent-mindedly brushed a flaming piece of wood off his shoulder. "Good. Hoist the torches!"

The Vikings lighted large braziers and raised them on poles into the air. The firelight revealed dozens of dragons flying overhead.

I finally reached my destination and dashed inside the blacksmith's cabin. "Nice of you to join the party!" a burly Viking with a long braided moustache greeted me, using his artificial hand (replaced with a hammer) to hammer a piece of red-hot metal into shape. "I thought you might have been carried off!"

"Nah, you know me," I boasted, "Those dragons can't handle...all of this," I finished, trying to conjure up a few muscles. Hey, it is true, no one can handle all of this masculinity. It's virtually impossible.

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?" the Viking asked innocently, grabbing a sword and a couple of axes and tossing them out the window to a few more Vikings approaching. He tugged the hammer off his hand and replaced it with a wrench to work on another project.

Way to ruin my moment. Way to freakin' ruin it!

This huge dude with the interchangeable hands and the attitude is Gobber. I've been his apprentice, and he's been like my guardian since I was little. Well, littler than now, anyway.

As I rushed forward to help with something, a small group of people dashed past the window, arguing and shouting. I dashed up to the window to look. They were all kids my age, about fourteen or so, swarming around a cannon, all carrying buckets of water to dump on a nearby fire. Oh, and that's Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and then, there's her.

A girl with long, auburn hair dashed forward with her bucket and chucked the contents straight at the fire. As she swung herself around to walk forward, a dragon shot a big missile of fire right behind her, creating a big dramatic burst of flames behind her as she walked, almost in slow-motion, away from the cannon…

"Hmph, showoff," I commented to myself.

This was Hicca. Let me tell you about this piece of work. She's the chief's daughter, and she tragically lost her mother at a young age. When I was younger, I had, like, the biggest crush on her. Emphasis on the had. Hicca was hot, tough, brave, and overall, perfect. It was her attitude that eventually ended my crush on her. That should be me saving the day out there, dammit!

Now there all happy, laughing, and giving each other high-fives, despite the fact that it looked like the apocalypse out there. _'There job is so much more awesome than mine_.'

Darting my eyes back and forth to make sure Gobber wasn't in sight, I climbed over the table and put my legs over. Suddenly, because fate is a bitch, something grabbed me and pulled me back in the shop.

"Come on, let me go, I have to make my mark," I exclaimed.

"Oh you've made a lot of marks all right," Gobber began, "all in the wrong places."

"Look, just two minutes. Give me two minutes and I'll kill a dragon. My life will improve somewhat. Maybe I'll even get the respect I so justly deserve." I left out getting a date, but that too!

Gobber shook his head and sighed. "You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an ax, heck, you can't even throw one of these," he explained while picking up a bola. A Viking came and stole it from him and used it against a Gronkle.

"True, true, but this bad boy," I said, motioning to my latest invention, "will throw it for me." I pulled the damn lever, expecting to hit a dragon, but I accidentally hit a person. Eh, he's a Viking, he'll live.

"See, right here, this is what I'm talking about," Gobber said annoyed. I chuckled nervously at my minor mistake.

"It was a small calibration issue."

"Look Asher, if you ever want to get out there and fight dragons, you need to stop all of...this," he said, motioning to me.

"You just pointed to all of me," I said incredulously. What's wrong with me, I'm freakin' amazing, you just don't know.

Gobber nodded. "Yes, that's it, stop being all of you." So that's how he wants to play, huh? OK, ok, I can play that way too.

"Ohhhhh...you sir are playing a dangerous game! Keeping this much raw manliness contained. There will be consequences!" Yeah that oughta teach him. If you can't realize that I am using sarcasm, you're an idiot. No offense to you all.

"I'll take my chances. Sharpen sword, now," he responded. I closed my eyes, sighed, and did the task. One day, that'll be me out there. Then I'll have my respect.

Let me see: killing a Nadder will sure get me noticed. A few Gronkles will be tough, but surely I'll triumph. Zipplebacks, double the head, double the love for Asher. But there's one that's never been seen before that will definitely give me the number one spot.

"NIGHTFURY!"

No one had ever killed a nightfury before and Astrid was going to be the first.

"Man the forge Asher. They need me out there. Stay. Put. There. Well you know what I mean." With a loud battle cry he rushed into the battlefield.

Making sure he was out of sight, I threw off my apron and grabbed my hand made catapult before running to a secluded area.

I stood there with my weapon poised in front of me "Come on give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at…" Suddenly something black whizzed nearby, which startled, not scared, the hel out of me, causing me to accidentally activate it.

There was a loud roar and I saw that something fell from the sky. Oh, Thor's hammer, Oh Thor's freakin' hammer.

"I did it! Yes! Did anyone see that?!" I cheered. Out of nowhere, my catapult got stomped on and I looked up to see a big Monstrous Nightmare looming over me. I hate you fate, with every fiber of my being.

"Well, except you," was all I said before I took off like a speeding bullet, all the while screaming "Why won't you bitches help me!"

The nightmare was suddenly punched to the side.

The bright red dragon roared at the man who had punched him who was none other than Stoic himself. The nightmare opened its vast jaws and spit out a tiny ember.

Stoic grinned "You're out." The nightmare gave a blood-curdling scream before flying off.

Seeing as how no one was paying attention to me at the moment, I slightly tip toed away from the crowd but for the third time that night someone grabbed the back of my shirt.

It was Hicca, and she did not look happy.

"Hello, Hicca," I said indifferently. Chief Stoic stood behind his daughter, ready for any action.

"Should I handle this daughter," he said. Hicca glared at me; here comes the big lecture. Oh boy, I can't wait to hear what she's gonna say.

"No dad, I think he'll understand if someone his age says it this time. Asher, all we ask is for you to stay inside safe and sound, but you always ignore us, and then disaster happens!" I've heard her yell at other people, but not like this. Honestly, I really don't feel like putting up with her or anyone else's bullshit right now, but I had to defend myself.

"Hold up a second Hicca. D-did I just hear that right? Are you blaming me for everything that's happened? I didn't do that much damage."

"They've stolen half our livestock Asher. How can you say that you didn't do that much damage?"

"I didn't make them steal it, now did I?"

"Everyone was so busy helping you they couldn't focus on the other dragons! Now our livestock is gone! I shouldn't need to remind you that my dad has an entire village to feed and one day I will too!"

"The village can get more and between you and me, the village could go for a while without feeding." A few insulted Vikings put a hand over their large stomachs and scoffed at me. Yeah I said it, who wants some? Come on!

"This isn't a joke!" Hicca shouted at the top of her lungs. I ran a hand through my blonde, matted coils of hair* and put two fingers on the bridge of my nose.

"Don't you think I know that Hicca? Just because I tell the truth you don't think I take this seriously? Are you kidding me? Let me tell you something, at least I'm not out there being a showoff and thinking I'm the best of the best! You know what, you are unbelievable Hicca Haddock. Unbelievable." Good thing is, I hit a NightFury.

"What was that," she said. Damn, did I say that out loud. Oh well, might as well go with it.

"I hit a NightFury," I repeated. She continued to stare at me for a few more minutes, until she had the most unexpected reaction.

She laughed. Yeah, dead serious, she laughed, along with everyone else. You know what, screw this.

"G-Gobber, take him back home an-and make sure he stays there," Stoic said while laughing. Yes, even he laughed.

As me and Gobber were walking back, I heard those familiar jeers that have always tormented me.

Snotlout was just there laughing his stupid ass off. "I've never seen someone fail so well!" I rolled my eyes, fed up with this.

"Hey Snotty, why don't you go wet your pants again?" I can't wait to tell you that story.

His face turned red and he looked away. "That was like, 3 years ago Useless." Yeah, that's my nickname around these parts. I got lots of nicknames for other people that I'll show you later on.

The twins chimed in with "That failure was inspiring! True genius! True! We bow to you!"

I clapped my hands and gave a sarcastic smile. "Well yes, my pitiful followers, that was grand. Now for my next act!" I shouted and put up both of my middle fingers while walking.

So yeah, that's how a day with Asher River Hofferson is.

Those f**king assholes!

* * *

**AN: So there you have it. My AU of HTTYD. **

**Asher: Asher is a well-intentioned, but grouchy, sarcastic, and bitter Viking who is not really Viking material. He hopes to one day fight dragons in order to gain respect**

**(*) I decided to give Asher dreads because hey, it's something different.**


	2. Meeting the Dragons and Training?

Second chapter featuring our favorite well-intentioned, but grouchy protagonist. Enjoy HTTYD fans!

After we were out of ear shot of the rest of the village, Gobber gave me a shove and asked me "All right lad what's eating you."

"Nothing, it's what's eating Hicca! Why is she always blaming me?"

He sighed, he knew just as well as anyone else that I had alot of issues with that showoff Hicca. "She just care's about this village that's all. Remember, she's got a big weight on her shoulders."

"I know, but does she have to take her aggressions out on me?" I sighed angrily as I stood on the doorstep of my house. My lonely, empty house. "Is it because I look like a damn fishbone or something?

"It's not what you look like that's making her angry, it's what's inside she can't deal with."

I slicked my hair out my eyes "Wow. Thanks for that vote of confidence. Real helpful there."

"Lad, I know you're tryin' but you just can't be someone you're not."

I entered my lonely abode and closed the door behind me. "THEN WHAT AM I THEN! HUH?!" I screamed to the ceiling, hoping for some, any kind of answer, but none came. I calmed down and went to my room, where I looked at a picture of my parents. The one with the blonde ponytail, that's my dad, Aiden Eldrich Hofferson. From what I heard about him, he was about as agile as a cheetah, and took down a shitload of dragons. He had all the respect, something I wish I had. Then the woman on the right with the braids, that's my mom, Phlegma the Fierce. The stories I heard about her; she was about as fierce as a Nightmare, or a Zippleback. No one messed with her, not even Chief Stoic.

"Mom, Dad. How I wish you were here," I whispered to the picture.

I popped right back outside through the back door and ran straight towards Raven's Point.

"I got a NightFury to catch," I said, determined. I will get the respect I so justly deserve, even if it kills me.

So I made it to the other side of this dumb island, in the forest, and guess what: no freakin' NightFury! Yeah, I can't believe it either. I had my journal in my right hand, pen in another, and I angrily scratched out another location on my piece-of-shit map.

"Why do the gods hate me?" I asked stepping over a fallen tree. "Some people lose their mug or their boot. Oh, but not me. I manage to lose a whole damn dragon!"

I sighed in pure annoyance before hitting a branch to the side only to have it snap back and hit me in the face. Ow! I rubbed my stinging face and said, "Even nature hates me… Bitch." Suddenly, I saw that the branch that had just effing slapped me in my beautiful face was part of a huge tree that was nearly split clean in two.

I looked down and noticed a large ditch followed by even more destroyed trees and ruined ferns. I proceeded to follow the debris before seeing a small clearing. I hid herself behind a rock and bravely peeked over.

Beyond the rock lay an unconscious black dragon.

I shriek a manly shriek before I ducked back behind the rock. Hey, men can shriek too! It is not girly! Shut up!

My heart was pounding in my chest so much, I thought that it was gonna burst out of my chest. "Calm down Ash, calm down," I reminded myself. With about as much courage as I could muster, which is a lot by the way, I got from behind the rock and stepped toward the dragon.

There was no doubt about it. This was the legendary NightFury. A NightFury that I, Asher, the so-called village screw-up, had captured. You cannot believe how happy I am at this moment. "I got it. I f**king got it," I whispered in excitement. Finally, my chance at getting respect, rubbing it in their faces, and hel, I might even get laid! EEEEEE!Ignore that people. You didn't hear that!

Suddenly, the beast shifted and, like a real man, I jumped from fear. The dragon's emerald eyes opened up and stared right at me I then took out my knife, ready to strike at it. "Oh, you're going down. I'ma kill the shit out of you," I told the beast. I looked at it's eyes and it held a look of...sadness? No, this is a trick! Dragons have no souls, let alone feelings.

I shook my head and held my knife tighter. "No, I'm gonna take out your heart, and bring it to the chief, 'cause I'm a viking. I'm a Viking. I AM A DAMN VIKING!"

With that, the beast looked down and just...sat there. I looked at it one more time and it looked so helpless and lost. I couldn't take it. It reminded me of...her. Oh Thor, why? Why?

I walked over and cut it's ropes. My goodness, what the hel are you doing Asher? What the hel are you doing? As soon as it's limbs were loose enough, the thing pounced on me and growled. I did not scream; it's like I suddenly lost that ability. It opened it's jaw, preparing to eat me, but instead it roared and jumped off of me.

I did what any other true man would do at that moment...

I fainted.

* * *

After I woke up, I realized that the sun had already set. "Shit!" I swore to myself. I ran back to the village as fast as I could. To get to my house, I had to pass that witch with a capital 'b' Hicca's house. OK Ash, just a few more feet, just a little more...

"Hey Asher!" Damn, damm, DAMN! So close. I was so tired, and I did not want to hear any insults right now. I looked back and saw arrogance in human form running toward me...with that silky brown hair, perfect body, those eyes...

Wait, what am I saying? I don't like her! She's a showoff-y little priss. Screw you male hormones!

"You get your wish. My dad told me that you start training tomorrow morning like the rest of us." For some reason, I didn't feel all that happy about it. Should I go?

"Um...actually Hicca, I changed my mind," I said nervously. She raised an eyebrow at me in shock. "But ever since you were little, or little-er," Hicca began, remarking on my frame, "you've always talked about killing dragons. And besides, it's a chance for you to improve on all of...this."

"You just gestured to all of me." The second time this happened. Come on people, what is wrong with me?!

"Besides, you don't have a choice. My dad's making you," she continued on. Oh, me and the chief are gonna talk about this shit! We are gonna talk!

"And if you're thinking about talking to him, good luck. He's like super busy with the expedition to the dragon's nest right now." What is this girl, a mind-reader or something.

I sighed and gritted my teeth. 'This is bullshit,' I thought to myself. "Fine, I'll go," I hissed to Hicca.

"I thought so," she replied, smirking all the way. What I would give to wipe that shit-eating grin off of her face. " So we start tomorrow in the arena. Try not to get killed," she shouted over her shoulder as she walked away. My eyes stared at her back and scrolled down. Wow, it looks so round and firm-no!

Bad Asher! Bad boy! You are not supposed to like her! That crush is dead! She is the enemy!

But she's so attractive! Damn hormones!

* * *

**AN: Second chapter up! WHOOOO! For all of y'all who like this story, I'm still going!**

**Also, I think I found the perfect voice for Asher. James Franco! Can you see it?**


	3. First Day of Torture

**Chapter 3: First Day of Torture**

The next day was bright but cloudy, all in all, average. I stood at the back of the group and hoped Gobber wouldn't notice me. Why is he teaching training, anyways?

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" he announced, swinging open the gate that lead to the battle ring.

"No turning back," I heard Hicca say under her breath. We all walked into the ring, me going in reluctantly. I wasn't all that impressed, I've seen this place lots of times, nothing special.

"I'm hoping to get some serious burns," Tuffnut said, who was carrying a large axe in one hand. Unlike me, he had no trouble holding it up.

"I'm hoping for some mauling," said Ruffnut, his sister, who was also carrying her own axe. "Like on my shoulder, or lower back."

"Yep," Hicca said, "It's no fun unless you get a scar out of it." OK, time to be my amazing alter-ego, The Snark Knight.

"Yeah, no kidding, right?" I said in a bored tone. Everyone turned to look at me. "Pain. Love it." Masochists the lot of them.

"Aw great, who let him in?" Tuffnut complained loudly. That's my power, the power of sarcasm! Wherever there is joy, I'll stop it! Where happiness amongst my enemies rears it's shiny head, I'll be there to kick it in the nuts! Sorry, got a little carried away there. I just wanna make sure their about as miserable as I am.

Gobber approached and either didn't hear or pretended he didn't hear Tuffnut's comment. "Let's get started! The recruit who does the best at dragon training will win the honour of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."

"Um, Asher already killed a Night Fury," said Snotlout mockingly, "So does that disqualify him, or...?" The twins burst out laughing as he snickered. "Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?"

Finally, a challenge! "Well Snotface, I don't know if wetting your pants during a dragon invasion exactly puts _you_ in the league of the so-called '_cool_' Vikings. By the way, how's that coming along, still have a bladder problem?" I smiled in amusement at seeing his angry face.

"I told you Ash-hole, that was three years ago!" That's my other nickname, and his and the twins favorite. Charming.

"And I've told you Snotty, people don't forget." I turned toward the twinsies with a smirk. "And you two make such a cute couple." I almost laughed seeing their just as angry but shocked faces. Yes, victory for the Snark Knight.

"All right ya rascals settle down. Now Asher," said Gobber, leading me to the centre of the ring with the other kids, "Don't worry, you'll do fine. You're small, and weak, so you have an advantage! They'll see you as sick or insane, and go after the more Viking-like teens. Heh, heh," he laughed at his own joke. I didn't find it funny, but apparently everyone else did, because they were just eating this up. I scowled and rolled my eyes.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" I laughed out sarcastically, bringing an awkward silence among us all.

I got in line with the other kids, next to Fishlegs. Out of all the teens here, he's the most tolerable. We nodded at each other in a way of greeting. Then we all faced Gobber, who was pacing in front of a door in the side of the arena that was barred off. Something on the inside rammed against the door and roared, causing all of us except Hicca to take a step back. "Now, inside these doors are only a few of the dragons you'll get to meet," Gobber started. "The Deadly Nadder—"

Fishlegs whispered some stats to himself. "Speed, 8, armour, 16."

"—the Hideous Zippleback—"

"Plus eleven stealth, times two..." Fishlegs murmured.

"—the Monstrous Nightmare—"

"Firepower fifteen..."

"—the Terrible Terror—"

"Attack eight, venom twelve..."

"WILL YOU STOP IT?!" I yelled and ran a hand through my unkempt ropes of hair; Gods that was annoying on so many levels.

"And the Gronkle," Gobber finished

"Jaw strength eight," Fishlegs whispered to me as Gobber placed a hand on the bar of the door. Snotlout suddenly stepped forward, looking panicked. "Wait, aren't you gonna teach us something first?" he cried, sounding genuinely scared.

"I believe in learning on the job," said Gobber matter-of-factly. Did I forget to mention that Gobber could be slightly insane. Because this sounds pretty freaking crazy!

And you know what's even crazier? He actually unbarred the door.

Not half a second later the doors flew open and a huge brown Gronkle shot out, growling deep in its throat, its wings buzzing like a bumblebee's. Everyone scattered, looking for a place to run. The Gronkle wasn't very good at manoeuvring through the air, and it crashed into the wall, dislodging a few rocks. It scooped one up in its mouth and prepared to shoot it out at one of us.

"Today is about survival," Gobber yelled as we screamed in terror. "If you get blasted, you're dead. Quick, what's the first thing you'll need?"

"A doctor?" I cried.

"Plus five speed?" pleaded Fishlegs.

"A shield!" Little-miss-perfect exclaimed, not taking her eyes off the hovering Gronkle.

"Shields! Go!" said Gobber, pointing toward a large plank of wood off to the side that was laden with shields. I hadn't even noticed it before.

I raced to the shields along with everyone else. Most of us grabbed the first one we saw and got back into the battle, but the twins immediately started quarrelling. I was searching for a handle to hold onto when Gobber picked up the shield, shoved it into my chest and pushed me back into the centre of the arena. "The most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you must make a choice between a sword and a shield, take the shield."

"Let go of my shield!" yelled Tuffnut, who was having a tug-of-war with Ruffnut over a shield with two skulls and orange flames.

"There's like a million shields!" Ruffnut yelled back, tugging harder on her side.

"Take that one. It has a flower on it," Tuffnut said, gesturing to the side towards another shield, "Girls like flowers." Ruffnut yanked the shield out of her brother's hands and with one strong blow whacked him over the head with it. Tuffnut swayed on the spot, slightly dazed, as Ruffnut made an innocent face. "Oops! Now this one has blood on it."

They were so busy arguing that they didn't notice the Gronkle's shot blasting toward them until it had hit the shield in question and shattered it, sending them both tumbling to the side.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" Gobber shouted, sounding happy. The twins groggily raised their heads off the stone. "Huh?"

"Those shields are good for another thing: noise!" Gobber told us. "Make lots of it! Throw off a dragon's aim." The remaining four of us immediately began knocking our axes against our shields, emitting a hollow clanking noise. Hicca backed away from the Gronkle slowly, still making noise. Snotlout danced over to its left. Fishlegs and I went to its right. I tried to hide behind the empty shield stand.

"Every dragon has a limited amount of fuel," Gobber said. "Can anybody tell me how many shots the Gronkle has?"

"Five?" guessed Snotlout, running with his shield above his head.

Fishlegs turned to Gobber and dropped his shield. "No, I know! It's six!" The Gronkle buzzed up behind him and blasted the ground near his heels. "Correct! Six! That's one for each of you!" Gobber cheered as Fishlegs dropped his shield and took off screaming with his arms in the air. The Gronkle buzzed after him, firing at him once more. "Fishlegs, out."

Snotlout and Hicca were standing off to the side. Hicca was standing in a slight crouch, ready to spring at any second, while Snotlout stood casually behind her and talked. A few seconds later, Snotty was blasted by the Gronkle. For once fate, you did something right.

"Snotlout, you're done," Gobber said.

Hicca did another cartwheel and landed with a grunt beside me. I decided to take a shot at a little conversation before we possibly die. "So I guess it's just you and me, huh?"

"Nope, just you," Hicca replied, cartwheeling away again. I looked after her. "Huh?" Oh yeah, that's totally chief material right there! The nerve of some people. Just then the Gronkle took a shot at me. It whizzed right over my head, and I yelped and dropped my shield. "One shot left!" Gobber called. The Gronkle chased after me as I chased after my shield. The shield hit the wall of the arena and bounced off. I tried to go after it, but the Gronkle knocked me to the floor and I found myself pinned down by a dragon for the second time in less than twenty four hours. "ASHER!" Gobber cried, sounding genuinly scared for me. I stared in fear at the Gronkle. I could see a ball of fire welling up in the back of it throat. As I was about to accept my horrible fate, Gobber suddenly appeared and knocked the Gronkle's head away. The shot exploded about three feet above my head. "And that's six," Gobber said, grabbing the Gronkle by the lower jaw and wrestling it away. "Back to your cage, you overgrown sausage!"

The class regrouped, panting and rubbing the places where they had fallen on. Why didn't any of those idiots help me, I don't know. "You'll get another chance, don't you worry," Gobber said. "And remember: be careful." He locked eyes with me. "Dragons always, always go for the kill."

The teens all walked away, talking excitedly like a bunch of little kids. I just stared at the smoking hole in the wall where the Gronkle had fired. And then, an important thought struck my head…

* * *

So why didn't you?" I murmured, picking up one of the ends of the bolas and weighing the rock in my hand. I stared at the ground thoughtfully. Why did the NightFury spare me? I dropped the bolas in the dirt and stood up. Then I began to travel through the forest. I came to a gap in the rocks that lead to a large cove that I had never discovered before. It had a wide lake and looked like a delightful vacation spot. But the damn beast was nowhere to be seen. "Well, this was a big waste of my time," I said bitterly. Just then, something shiny caught my eye, and I bent down to look. On the ground were a few round scales the size of the rock on the end of the bolas, and they were shiny and very dark blue. I picked one up and looked carefully at it. It was hard and sort of like rock. As I looked at it closer, something suddenly shot up in front of me with a shriek, and I fell back.

It was the Night Fury.

It was scrabbling at the rocks above me, trying to get itself up, but something seemed to be dragging it down. It shoved off the rocks and glided down to the riverbank with a frustrated roar. Amazed, I slid down the rocks to get a better view. The dragon tried to take off the ground again, but it hit the side of the valley wall and fell on its side. I quickly took my notebook out of my vest and began to sdraw it. "Why don't you just fly away?" I whispered as I drew in the tail fins. The Night Fury shot a ball of flame in front of it in frustration. I looked down at the dragon, then back at my drawing, and noticed it was a bit inaccurate.

I erased the left tail fin and looked back at the dragon.

It was missing its left tail fin, probably from my bolas. I bit my lip and as I gazed at the dragon, my pencil slipped from my hand.

"Shit," I whispered. I frantically tried to grab for it, but it evaded my grasp and fell through the air to the ground below. My eyes widened and I sucked in my breath as the pencil hit a rock with a small clink. It wasn't that loud, but it was enough to make the dragon look up and see me.

We locked eyes and stared at each other. I'll admit, I was terrified that I was going to be attacked. However, the dragon cocked his head and regarded me with curiosity instead.

I slowly drew back my hand, which was still frozen in front of me from trying to grab my pencil. We had made eye contact for the fourth time since we met and strangely enough, we weren't trying to kill each other anymore.

I guess that's a good sign.

* * *

**AN: There's Chapter 3! Enjoy everyone.**

**Oh, and I figured out the perfect voice for Hicca. Ellen Page from Juno! Can y'all see it?**


	4. The Book of Dragons

_**Who's that dude (Who's that dude)**_

_**Who's that dude (Who's that **__**dude)**_

_**It's **__**Ash!**_

_**Here's the fourth chapter everyone. Enjoy!**_

* * *

Later that day, I was walking down to the Mead Hall, when all of a sudden, it started raining. Lucky me, right! I made it to the front doors, soggy and with my normal annoyed look on my face. I saw the jackass brigade (not Fishlegs and Gobber, they're okay) talking about the training session today.

"Now, where did Hicca go wrong in training today?" Gobber said in his booming voice as I picked up a plate with a lone drumstick on it and carried it toward the table. I can't wait to hear about princess's screw-up.

"I misjudged my somersault dive," she sighed. "It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble."

"Yeah," Ruffnut said in a bored voice. "We noticed."

"No, no, you did great," Snotlout assured her. "It was so…Hicca."

Hicca rolled her eyes. Wow, what a kiss-ass.

"No, she's right," said Gobber, pacing behind her. "You've got to be on your guard at all time…" He rambled on, not noticing me. Of course, Hicca's always right because she's so perfect! Hmph! As I approached the table, Snotlout seemed to realize that he had an empty seat next to him, and he quickly put his hand on it to prevent me from sitting beside him. Dickwad! I walked around him and sat at an empty table beside Snotlout's, knowing full well that even if there was another open seat somewhere at the other table, no one would let me join them. I forlornly poked at the drumstick as Gobber rounded on me. "Ah, Asher. Where did Asher go wrong in training today?"

"Uh, he showed up?" said Ruffnut like the answer was obvious.

"He didn't get eaten," Tuffnut snickered, elbowing his sister in the shoulder. I told you, they make such a cute couple!

I felt Hicca's eyes boring into my head. "He's never where he should be," she said in a very cold voice.

Tired of this, I turned around to face them. "Well, screw you guys too! You think I care about your opinions!" I said in an angry tone. Gobber quickly interfered, not wanting this to get out of hand.

"Enough out of you lot! Thank you, Hicca," the big blacksmith said, cuffing the twins on the head. "You've got to live and breathe this stuff." He disappeared for a moment and then reappeared with a think book and dumped it on the table, sending quite a few plates tumbling to the floor. "The Dragon Manual. All we know about every dragon we know about." A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. "No attacks tonight," said Gobber. "Study up." He walked out of the mess hall, leaving us sitting at the tables behind him.

Tuffnut, who was trying to balance his fork on its end, suddenly sat straight up with a look of horror on his face. "Wait—you mean read?" he gasped.

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut gasped.

"No, when you're dead, yes while you're alive," I replied in my normal sarcastic tone. And then Snotty decides to give his two cents.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" he whined, like a little bitch.

"Because you can't kill everything the words tell you, dumbass." Sheesh, the stupidity radiating off him is bigger than Berk itself! Probably even larger!

"Oh! Oh!" Fishlegs piped up excitedly. "I've read it like, seven times!" Snotlout stared at Fishlegs like he had sprouted two heads. Fishlegs continued, "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face! And, and there's this other dragon that buries itself for like a week—"

"Er, yeah, that sounds great," Tuffnut interrupted him. "And there was a chance that I was going to read that—"

"But…now…" said Ruffnut, sounding bored out of her mind.

"Well, you guys can stay here and read," said Snotlout, getting up off his seat and walking toward the door. "I'm gonna go kill stuff."

"Hey, wait for me!" the twins shouted together, trying to simultaneously follow Snotlout and push each other down at the same time. Fishlegs followed them, still talking about all the different dragons he had read about.

I slowly walked up to the Book of Dragons, which was lying on the table beside Hicca, who hadn't made any move to open it. "So I guess we'll have to share—"

"Read it," she said bluntly, cutting me off. She got up and walked away, shoving the book toward me. Oh, hel no, if I'm gonna be stuck reading this thing, so will she!

"Hey!" I called out, "get back here!" It was all for naught as the door slammed behind her! Shit. Might as well read the damn thing then. I poured myself a cup of mead and went on ahead.

* * *

Here I am, hours later, still reading this damn book. Turns out, the book was more useful than I thought it would be; it gave me most of the information about all the dragons, like their class and how lethal they can be. I scrolled through all of the well-known ones until I reached the back of the book. It was completely blank except for a few words at the bottom.

"Night Fury," I read in a hushed voice. "Speed, unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only hope: hide and pray that it does not find you…" I trailed off. I hadn't thought that Night Furies were this hated in Berk. I stared at the blank spot that should have had a picture of the dragon and then quickly took out my notebook, opened it, and laid my diagram of the Night Fury on top of the book.

By Thor! I had met a Night Fury. I had been pressed to the ground, roared at, and then left alone. I had let it see me and yet I had survived.

It was at this moment where my beliefs in all dragons being ruthless killers were called into question.

* * *

**AN: I thought of someone else who would be perfect for the voice of Asher: Joseph Gordon-Levitt! Yes!**


	5. Toothless

**This story's been getting some attention. Nice! Well, here's the next chapter, which will take a more dramatic, but heartwarming at the end turn. Enjoy!**

The next day, we were at the usual training ring, which took me a while (and prodding from Fishlegs) to get to.

"So, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies," I told Gobber. "Is there another book? Or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?" I suddenly felt a rush of heat: the fire from the training Nadder had taken off my axe head, rendering it useless. Oh shit! "Focus, Asher!" Gobber shouted from outside the ring. "You're not even trying!"

Today, the ring was set up like a maze, with multiple wooden walls set up, forcing us to scatter, but allowing the Nadder to hop around with ease. "Today is about ATTACK!" Gobber told us. "The Nadder is quick and light on the feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter." As I ran, I saw Fishlegs in an adjoining passage. The Nadder, which was on the wall above him, whipped its tail up, extending several spikes and launching them at him. Using his shield to protect himself, he screamed and ran.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" Fishlegs informed Gobber.

"Look for its 'blind spot'," Gobber instructed. "Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike!" I passed the twins, who turned a corner and found themselves face-to-face with the Nadder, which seemed oblivious to their presence.

"Do you ever bathe?" asked Ruffnut, catching a whiff of her brother.

"If you don't like it, then get your own blind spot!" Tuffnut argued back.

"How about I give you one!" Ruffnut said, shoving her brother.

The Nadder, hearing the bickering twins, snapped at them, sending them running. Hehehe, idiots. "Blind spot? Yes." said Gobber. "Deaf spot? Not so much."

Finding my way back to Gobber, I tried to engage in conversation. "So how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" I asked.

"No one's ever seen one and lived to tell the tale Asher," said Gobber, rubbing his nose in frustration. "NOW GET IN THERE!"

"I know. But, hypothetically—" I began.

"Asher!" whispered a voice from behind me. It was Hicca, kneeling behind a wall with Snotty. "Get down!"

I obliged...for now. I heard the Nadder hop down on the other side of the wall. Hicca did a roll past it, and Snotlout followed suit. I tried the same, only to have my shield drag me back, alerting the Nadder, which sent me running back like a freaking moron.

Hicca suddenly appeared behind me and raised her axe to attack the Nadder. Snotlout shoved her aside. "I'll take care of this cuz," he said smoothly as she protested. Snotface flung the hammer at the Nadder. It smacked into the wall about six away from the target. The Nadder stared at the useless hammer beside it with amusement and then cocked its head and began laughing at Snotlout. Wow, a dragon that shares my humor...

Snotlout rolled his eyes as little-miss-perfect glared at him. "The sun was in my eyes, Hicca," he protested as they ran down the path. I could hear his bullshit excuses fading as they and the Nadder both disappeared. "Do you want me to move the sun? I could do that, you know, I could move the sun…" As I've said before, what a kiss-ass.

I got up and quickly ran away from the Nadder. I had gone not two steps when there was a tremendous crashing noise from my left side. I ran out into the open and stopped moving. The Nadder had leaped on top of the maze walls and began to knock them over like dominos. Hicca was leaping on and off the toppling walls away from the Nadder. As she leaped off the last wall, which was right in front of me, she looked at where she was heading toward and immediately screamed. "AAAASSSHHHERR!"

I couldn't move out of her way in time. She collided with me and we both tumbled to the ground. I stared up at her as she shot me a look of poison, trying to untangle herself and her axe from me and my shield. "Can you—well maybe if you just—" I tried to say to her as she struggled. To make matters worse, I could hear the twins laughing at us.

"Ooh," crooned Tuffnut. "Love on the battlefield."

"She could do better than the Ash-hole," Ruffnut snickered. If only I could get up and use every swear word in my arsenal...

Hicca finally untangled herself from me and stood up, shooting me a look filled with poison. What, you think I'm scared of her or something? Wrong. The Nadder suddenly was flying at us, screeching something in dragon talk. Hicca's eyes widened and she stared at her axe, which was embedded in my shield. She grabbed her axe with both hands, stepped right on me, the bitch, and yanked with all her strength, but the axe refused to budge. Hicca took her foot off me (thankfully) and swung the axe and the shield together at the Nadder.

The shield shattered against the Nadder's head with a sickening crunch. The Nadder's head snapped back, and it let out a whine of pain as it flapped away. Hicca was breathing hard as she stared after the dragon with a mixture of her usual superiority and uncertainty.

"Good job Hicca!" Gobber cheered, appearing in the arena to herd the dragon back into its cage.

I rolled onto my side, rubbing my head, and Hicca seemed to notice me again. She whirled on me angrily and pointed her axe at me, blade first. Part of the shield was still attached. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?" she yelled. "Our parent's war is about to become ours. Figure out whose side you're on." Ok, that's it! That is the final, FINAL, straw! You can insult me, spit on me, and beat me all you want, but you never, EVER, use the name of my dead parents against me!

As she stalked away with the rest of the group, I summoned the energy to get up, and I ran at her and tackled her on the ground. Before you get the wrong idea, know this: I didn't wanna fight. I don't even like to fight, especially against women. But if you say the wrong thing, it's go time! No one is above a fight, not even the Chief's daughter! Who is she to judge me, huh?! Who is she?!

We began tussling and fighting on the ground, from slaps to kicks and punches; Hicca got me in the jaw, and I punched her in the forehead, surprisingly making her wince in pain. She flipped me over and put her hands on my neck, trying to choke me, and I poked her in the eyes using both fingers, making her let go and cover her eyes. I managed to push her off of me and stand up, her following suit.

As we both stood, ready to fight again, everyone else, including Gobber, interfered and held us back.

"Asher, what's gotten into you, boy?!" Gobber yelled as he held me. I ignored him and kept focusing on Hicca.

"WOMAN DON'T YOU EVER, IN YOUR LIFE, USE MY PARENTS AGAINST ME" I shouted with all of my might as I struggled in Gobber's grasp. Me and Hicca stared each other down angrily when we stopped struggling against our captors.

"You're an embarrassment to this training, as well as to being a Viking," she began, "so if you have any respect for us, and what we do, you won't show up tomorrow." She turned around and walked away, the other Viking teens following her, and leaving me alone with Gobber.

"Have you gone crazy lad! You can't just up and hit the Chief's daughter," Gobber said to me. I turned away from him and growled.

"She shouldn't have said what she said."

"Come on, you know she didn't mean all of that."

"She did Gobber! I saw the look in her eyes! She meant every nasty word! And you expect me to let her get away with that?! Are you serious?!"

"Asher, you know she takes being a Viking seriously, you can't blame her for her drive."

"Just because she takes training seriously doesn't mean she can let her ego run wild. Remember when she said respect for 'us'? She didn't mean her and everyone else! She meant her and her only!" I closed my eyes and huffed angrily.

"Lad, I know that you're feeling very strong about what Hicca said, but you have to realize that she also has issues. You're not the only one," Gobber consoled. "You know the Chief might hear about this."

"Well if he does, tell him how it really went down," was the last thing I said as I left the training arena. I sighed, closed my eyes, and thought back to what Hicca had said. It made me angry, yes, but it also saddened me. Her words only served to remind me of my dead parents. I couldn't help but let a few tears escape from my eyes.

"Mom, Dad," I whispered to myself, "I'll prove to you that you didn't die in vain." I wiped my tears and continued to walk. As I was walking, I began to sing a tune that I would always sing to myself whenever I'm down.

_I'm not like them_  
_But I can pretend_  
_The sun is gone_  
_But I have a light_  
_The day is done_  
_But I'm having fun_

_I think I'm dumb_  
_or maybe just happy_  
_Think I'm just happy_  
_my heart is broke_  
_But I have some glue_  
_help me inhale_  
_And mend it with you_  
_We'll float around_  
_And hang out on clouds_  
_Then we'll come down_  
_And have a hangover... have a hangover_

_Skin the sun_  
_Fall asleep_  
_Wish away_  
_The soul is cheap_  
_Lesson learned_  
_Wish me luck_  
_Soothe the burn_  
_Wake me up_

_I'm not like them_  
_But I can pretend_  
_The sun is gone_  
_But I have a light_  
_The day is done_  
_But I'm having fun_

_I think I'm dumb_

* * *

I went back to the cove, bringing with me a shield and a dead fish. I tossed the fish out into the open and tried to walk forward with my shield in front of me for protection, but it wedged itself into the side of the cliff and refused to budge. With a sigh, I picked up the fish and slowly walked forward. "Here, dragon," I called softly, not sure where it was or what to call it, for that matter. I glanced around the cove, not seeing anything big and midnight blue. I looked out over the cove, craning my neck to try and see over to the other side, when I heard something move behind me and immediately knew where the Night Fury was.

"It's you again, human! Why do you keep coming back?" said a voice behind me. That's weird, I wasn't being followed, and I was sure no one else was here, so who could that be?

I turned around just as the NightFury stepped up from behind the rock he had been hiding behind and unfurled his wings. "Well human, I'm waiting." OH. MY. GODS. Did that dragon just talk to me? This is so freaking bizarre. It didn't talk before, why now?

I sucked in my breath as it carefully stepped off the rock and backed up a few steps in front of me, not breaking eye contact. Its eyes darted from my face to the fish in my hand. I cautiously held out the fish to the NightFury, but as I tried to get closer, it suddenly bared its teeth and growled.

"Are you setting me up? I knew it! You humans are all the same!"

I decided to ask the million dollar question. "Um, dragon? Are you really talking and are you really speaking or is it some psychic link or something?"

The dragon looked at me and rolled it's eyes, which were still slitted. "Yes I am really talking, do you not see my lips moving? And no, it is not a psychic link. I am speaking, literally speaking, the language of Norse, you f**king moron!" Whoa, is this what I sound like to most people? Pssh, nah! Their just stupid!

Instinctively, I reached into my vest and laid a hand on my dagger. The growling increased as my fingers brushed the hilt. I paused. Then I very slowly picked up the dagger, held it out beside me and without breaking eye contact dropped it on the ground.

The Night Fury didn't drop his defensive stance, but he stopped growling.

I kicked the dagger into the lake.

The dragon stared at the ripples on the surface and then sat down on his haunches and stared at me with big curious puppy dog eyes.

"So you're not like the others? You still didn't answer my question."

"Well, um, I don't know why I keep coming back. You're interesting I guess," I gave the best answer that I could, which seemed to satisfy the, um, talking dragon

I extended my arm out and waved the fish in front of it.

"Ooo! Ooo! Is that fish? Gimme, gimme, gimme!" the dragon chanted. I raised one eyebrow in wonder; hey, if you encountered a talking dragon, you'd be pretty weirded out too!

"Um, it is fish. Want some?" I asked like an idiot; of course, that's why I brought it.

"Yeeessss," the dragon gushed.

It licked its lips and then leaned toward it, opening its mouth.

He had no teeth.

"Huh," I said softly. "Toothless. I could've sworn you had—"

The next second, razor sharp teeth suddenly shot out from the dragon's gums and he snapped the fish up whole, almost biting off my hand in the process. I jerked my hand back as the he swallowed the fish and then licked his lips and looked at me.

"—teeth?" I finished. So he could retract his teeth. Interesting.

"Oh, that hit the spot! Thank you so much human! Haven't had this kind of fish in a while," the black beast said. He lowered his head and advanced on me, making a sort of rumbling noise in his throat. I stumbled backward, trying to get away. "Ah, no, no," I tried to dissuade the dragon from coming toward me. My legs suddenly hit something hard and I fell back against a large rock. The dragon stuck his head up to me and stared into my eyes. "I don't have any more!" I whispered, trying to edge away.

Apparently he didn't want more, because he dipped his head into my lap and regurgitated the fish's head onto my lap. Dragon spit and fish slime slid down my legs and onto the grass. "Ew…" I groaned.

The dragon drew back his head and sat back on his back legs, elbows resting on his knees, just like a human. He watched me expectantly. I held the slimy fish head in my hands, not sure what to do. When I looked at him questioningly, he looked at the fish and then back at me.

"Well go on," he said to me. I looked at the fish and then back at him with horror, realizing what he wanted me to do. I silently groaned, and then very gingerly took a bite of the fish. "Mmm," I said weakly through my mouthful.

The dragon just stared at me.

"You're not done. You gotta...you know," he said and made a motion of swallowing. Thor, why do you give me the worst luck? Why I ask you? Why?

"Mmhmmhmm!" I drooped my shoulders and gave the dragon a pleading look, but he still stared at me, so I forced myself to swallow the fish. I stuck out my tongue and moaned as I felt the slimy thing hit the bottom of my stomach. So close to puking!

"There you go! Good wasn't it?" the dragon said. I gave it a weak smile, hoping that it would appease the beast. Very slowly, the dragon bared showed it's gums in an attempt at smiling.

"This how you do it?" it asked me while still making the gesture.

I was amazed. "Pretty much, dragon."

Without breaking eye contact, I rose and held out my hand to make physical contact with him. He unleashed his teeth and gave a warning growl.

"Hey! I don't know you like that, so no touching! Ok?"

It glided away from me across the lake. He breathed fire on a large patch of earth to make it warm, and then curled up on it for a nap. He closed his eyes and tried to rest, but I think he was a bit annoyed by me moving up beside him and waving.

"Go away now human, I wanna sleep," the dragon whined.

"Hey, I have a name, you know! It's Asher!"

"Well Asher, go away! It's sleepy time, all right."

He let out a loud breath of air that translated as a dragon sigh and wrapped his tail around his body so that the remaining fin covered his eyes.

It was just what I wanted to see. I inched forward and extended my hand to touch the tail, but just as I was about to touch him, his tail shot up and he stared at me. I quickly turned and walked away, trying to make it look like I had never wanted to touch his tail in the first place. I heard a snort behind me as he walked away to find a more private resting area.

"Humans man. Just don't listen. And I told you, no touching," the dragon, or Toothless as I'll now call him, reemphasized.

I walked back to the rock that I had been pinned against only two minutes before and sat down on it, using a thin stick to sketch on the ground in front of me. How would Stoick react if he saw me now? Turning my back to a Night Fury! I had just gotten the head of a Night Fury drawn when I felt something approach from behind me and I knew the dragon was watching.

"Whatcha doin'" Toothless asked me.

"It's called drawing, something to keep my mind off of certain things."

"Oh I've heard of this 'drawing' as you call it. Weird if you ask me."

The dragon followed the movement of the stick with his eyes, occasionally letting out a curious whine. He watched me for about five seconds and then disappeared from behind me. I figured he'd just gotten bored. After all, drawing was one of those things that was only fun if you were doing it yourself.

A second later I heard the noise of a small tree being uprooted, and I had to turn around.

The dragon danced up in front of me a second later, holding the tree in his mouth and using it to create swooping swirling patterns on the ground in front of me.

He was drawing, just like I was.

He continued to twirl around on the dirt with the stick for a few minutes, and then he stopped, looked at me proudly, and jabbed a dot into the middle of his swirls. Then he stepped back to admire his drawing. I was right in the middle of the web of criss-crossed lines.

"Look, look! My first 'drawing.' Yay!" Toothless cheered like a little kid. Man, this is so surreal.

I looked around it in amazement, then got off the rock and stepped forward.

Toothless bared his teeth and growled.

"Oh, no, I just worked on that and you are not f**king it up!" he said angrily.

I looked at him, then at the ground, where I discovered that I had stepped on one of the lines of his 'drawing'. I lifted my foot off the line, and the dragon's angry look vanished.

I stepped on and off the line again and again, making him growl and perk up alternatively, before I stepped over the line completely and the dragon smiled.

I smiled back.

Then I began a sort of complicated dance across the drawing, not taking my eyes off where I put my feet, being careful not to tread on any line. I was actually having fun doing it until I backed out of the drawing and felt myself back up against the Night Fury.

I turned and gazed at his face. He looked back at me, almost fondly. I tentatively raised a hand, but he growled. I lowered the hand and he closed his mouth.

I took a deep breath.

I closed my eyes, turned my head away, and slowly extended my hand toward Toothless.

He wasn't growling at me, so I figured I was safe for now, but what was he going to do next? Was he doing to come to his senses and bite my hand off, or roar at me and fly away, or—

I felt something warm and scaly press against my hand.

Hardly daring to believe it, I slowly raised my head. The dragon was leaning against my hand, with his eyes closed, like he liked the feel of it.

"Oooohhhh, that's so soft," he purred.

His eyes opened and he saw me looking at him with amazement. He slowly pulled his head away, wrinkled his nose a bit, and then he was gone.

Never knew that the most dangerous dragon ever could be so, so...cute.

* * *

**AN: Yes, I made Toothless talk! No psychic link or anything. My Toothless is going to be a more immature Toothless! Enjoy!**

**P.S. The song Asher sang is Dumb by Nirvana. Check it out!**


	6. The Fin and New Surprises

**Here's the sixth chapter of Asher's epic story! Enjoy y'all.**

I just got back from hanging with Toothless, you know, the NightFury? Turns out, he's actually an okay creature if you're nice to him. Considering my reputation for being a grouch, it's ironic that me, the Ash-hole, is trying to form a bond with someone, or something, isn't it? I'd like to think so.

We got a break from dragon training after the whole confrontation between me and Hicca. Man, that bitch! Sorry.

Here I am, in my lonely house, just randomly drawing pictures of Toothless in my book. I couldn't help but feel quite shitty at what I did to him. I should try to make it up to the poor dragon, but how? How I tell you?!

Hours pass, and I managed to come out of my fortress of solitude when Gobber invited me and unfortunately everyone else to dinner outside at a table. I look around and I don't see Little-miss-perfect. Good! He was telling the story of how he lost his leg in a dragon confrontation. Sweet Thor, I've heard this story so many damn times it was ridiculous.

"…an' that's when he took my arm!" he cries, so loud that if I were on the other end of Berk, I could hear. I'm sitting away from everyone else on purpose, but Fishlegs decides to sit next to me. Oh Legs, always the sympathetic one. "An' I could see the look on its face; I was delicious! He must've passed along th' word, 'cause it wasn't a month before another took my leg!"

Fishlegs decides to speak up. "Isn't it weird to think that your arm is inside a Dragon? Like, if you still had control over it, you could kill it from the inside."

He is ignored in favor of that idiot Snotlout. "Man, I am so angry right now. I will avenge your beautiful arm and your beautiful leg! I'll cut off all the Dragons' legs—with my face!" Goodness gracious, I didn't think it was possible, but he has hit a new low in stupidity.

"How can you cut a dragon's legs with your face? No-as a matter of fact, how can you cut anything with your face you retard?" I asked out.

"It's an expression of how manly I am. Something that you probably don't understand Ash-hole," Snotty insulted. I am manly! I am! No one hasn't seen it yet.

"Right. I guess your manliness, as you call it, is so magnificent that your intelligence and hygiene are also in awe of it," I said sarcastically. Gotta keep coming up with new material, starting to get stale.

Before Snotface could say anything else, Gobber speaks up. "Nah, it's the wings you gotta go for. Remember, a downed dragon is a dead dragon.

I immediately sprang up from the table and rushed to the forge. Now I know what to do!

* * *

I've been at the forge for quite a while now, working on a mechanical tailfin for Toothless. I knew that Toothless couldn't survive long without flight, so I put all of the effort into making this thing. I look outside to see that it is already dawn. Time flies by so fast when you're not dealing with idiots. One more adjustment, and...there, finished. Phew, finally. To the canyon I go!

I grabbed a basket that was filled with fish that I got from a vendor; I knew that if I was gonna put this fin on Toothless, I needed to distract him somehow.

"Hey Toothless!" I called out. I set the basket down on the ground and here he comes.

"Hey there Asher," the dragon said, "what's with the basket?"

I opened said basket and he inched closer, eyes lit with glee at what's inside. "You hungry?" I asked.

"YES YES YES!" Toothless gushed.

"Well, got you some salmon, some awesome Icelandic cod, and a nice smoke eel-" Almost immediately when I said that, he jumped back.

"What?!" he shouted disbelievingly. I looked confused; don't dragons like eel?

I shuffled through the basket and held up the creature that spooked Toothless, which made him hiss. "Get that ropey looking piece of shit away from me right now! I'm not playing man," he snarled. I tossed the eel in the lake nearby. "OK, OK, no more eel," I consoled. The great beast calmed down and began pigging out on the fish. I moved around until I got behind him.

"Mmm,mmmm! Why didn't anyone tell me that humans could be so nice?" Toothless questioned. I ignored him and set down the mechanical half of his tailfin.

Ok his tail's right there! Damn, I missed. There it is again! Shit. Just a little more! Oh, why do you hate me Thor? Everytime I move in on his tail, it moves away. That tail's a douchebag! I glared at the back of the NightFury's head.

"Uh Asher, you ok buddy?" he asks. I finally manage to put the damn thing on. I could feel his body tense up, and he suddenly takes off. Only one teensy, weensy, f**king problem.

I latched on to his tail, like a dumbass.

I screamed as we launched into the air. Not even a few seconds later, Toothless began to fall. I got myself together and whipped open the mechanical half of the fin. We managed to glide for a few minutes before crashing into the pond.

When I rise, I let out my fist of victory. "Hell yeah!" I shouted gleefully, "We did it, Toothless." He brought his tail up for him to look at.

"I-is this like, my new fin?"

"It is bud, it is."

Toothless then ensnared me in a hug, his big dragon paws crushing me. "Oh, Asher you beautiful son of a bitch! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" he cheered.

"I-I can't breathe Toothless," I wheezed out. He let go of me and I started catching my breath. We both got out of the pond and laid on the grass.

As I dried out my hair, I spotted the eel floating in the water. Hmm, I wonder...

* * *

"Today is about teamwork!" Gobber bellows from his safe position. A Zippleback has already spewed his gas. "One head spews gas, one head ignites it. Your job is t' find th' right head and throw th' water on it."

We are divided into teams. Thankfully, Gobber put me with Fishlegs. Tuffnut and Snotlout (or as I now call them Retard and Dumbass) have already screwed up, throwing their water on Hicca and Ruffnut.

"It's us you douchebags!" Ruffnut shouted, outraged.

"You're asses are getting bigger. We thought you were dragons," Tuff giggled, like the retard he is.

"Um, not that there's anything wrong with a dragonesque figure of course," Snotface said, trying not to invoke his cousins wrath. It was all for naught, as Hicca punched both of them in the face, leaving them groaning on the ground.

Fishlegs automatically starts going into list-fact mode. "Specializes in sneak attacks. Teeth inject venom for pre-digestion."

I glare at him, "Fishlegs!"

He smiles shyly. "Sorry, I'll shut up now."

Tuff suddenly howls and runs past us, yelling, "I am hurt! I am very much hurt!" I roll my eyes. Retard.

Fishlegs whispers, "Chances of surviving are dwindling to single digits now." A head pops out at us, and Fishlegs throws his bucket.

The head spits more smoke.

I'm beginning to think that maybe Thor is finding more people to hate.

"Wrong head," he chuckles nervously.

The smoke covers Fishlegs, who runs away, screaming. "Fishlegs!" Gobber hollers. "Go, Asher!"

I see the other head and attempt to throw the water on it. It doesn't even touch the Zippleback. You gotta be shitting me! Gotta start working out more!

The Zippleback growled at me, making me back up quickly. Gobber called my name in a fearful manner and prepared to leap into the ring.

I open my vest a little and let the Zippleback see the eel. It rears back, hissing.

"Yeah, get back, get back! Back in that damn cage, you ugly son of a bitch!" I yelled out, making shooing gestures with my hands. It soon backed up into his cage. "You think about what you did!" I dropped the eel in front of the door and shut it, locking the Zippleback inside. When I turn around, everyone's jaws are on the ground.

"We done now?" I questioned. Oh, yeah! It's about to go down!

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**Yay Asher! Next chapter, more training, more Asher, and some jealousy from Hicca!**

**Please review. It's always good to have feedback. :)**


	7. Second thoughts and Suspicion

**Here I am, been gone for a minute. Did y'all miss me? I hope y'all did! Because here's a new chapter! The suspicious confrontation will also be a little different. Enjoy it!**

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It's been a few days since Toothless and I tested out his new fin. In that time period, I've been working hard with the big, beastly son of a bitch. I even made a saddle since being on his scaly back is so uncomfortable, but it took a long while to strap that thing on. I also made something that wiuld open and close the fin when I moved my foot in a specific way.

The more time I spent with my big dragon pal, the more of his secrets I picked up on. When we crashed into a field with some kind of herb, Toothless rolled around in it ike a stupid Viking rolling in mud. I took that same herb to the arena and used it on the Gronkle. Instead of getting brutally murdered, it was all gentle and shit.

The next training, when the Nadder spotted me, I stood still and dropped my axe. When it was all close up on me, I scratched its chin and it collapsed on the ground like one of my inventions. Which are still awesome by the way! Um, anyway, I'm getting off track.

Today, we were introduced to different kind of dragon: the Terrible Terror. I looked at it in mild surprise; damn, that f**ker is small.

I saw Tuff just laughing like a retard. "Ha!" he exclaimed, "It's like the size of my-" was all he could get out as the dragon suddenly jumped up and started chewing on his nose.

I know what he was about to say it was as small as. I'm quite sure is.

"I'm hurt. I'm very much hurt!" he shouted, screaming ike a litte bitch. I quickly took care of the Terror by using my shield to reflect sunlight that the Terror saw and leaped at it like a little kid hopped up on sugar. After everyone cheered me on, I saw Hicca looking at me with a scowl.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that. After taking down that Zippleback days back, word spread around the village and now people admire me. The younger kids looked up to me, and adults also were taking notice. It seems like I'm finally attaining my dream of getting respect right?

Well guess what? It's not turning out like I expected, and it's weird as Hel. I have admiration, I'm doing good in training, and not to mention, I could have a secret fanclub right this minute.

So why am I not happy? I'm no longer looked at with scorn and derision (despite the fact that I returned their hostilities, but it still hurts), so why am I not happy? Why doesn't this bring a smile to my face? Uggghhh, I don't know man. Gah, who the f**k knows.

So here I am, walking around listlessly when I think of the only think that can probably bring me some peace: A big ass cup of mead at the Mead Hall.

I eventually reach the place and everyone just starts going up to me all like "Hi Asher, hi Asher! You did so good, teach me something." I push through the small crowd and I see Gobber at one of the tables. "Oy lad!" he shouted jovially. I sat down on th other side.

"Hey there Gobber," I replied, completely monotone.

"So, you enjoying being number one like you always said?" my burly mentor asked. Oh, Gobber, even though you make fun of me sometimes, you're always looking out for me.

"It's interesting, I'll tell you that. When you're known for being a complete failure and an asshole, that reputation is something you'll get used to," I answered cynically, drinking some mead afterwards.

"Don't worry boy, you'll get used to it," Gobber replied. I bit my lip in anxiety; should I tell him that I have a dragon friend? Hmm...nah, screw that. Instead, I ask another question that's still relevant to me.

"Um Gobber, have you ever felt that wanting something is better than getting it?" I asked out loud. I took a swig of mead after that sentence. He looked at me in confusion.

"What do ya mean Asher?"

"Okay how can I explain this? Have you ever looked at a shiny ax, thinking it will be the best damn ax ever, but you realize that the thing's a piece of shit that falls apart?"

"I can't say that I have. Why ask such a question boy?" he said.

I struggled to come up with a reply but I found one. "Oh, no reason."

Gobber stood up and began walking toward the doors. "The forge needs me, so I'll be goin'. Take care of yourself Asher." And with that he was gone. Soon, everyone ese started to leave, leaving me there alone with my thoughts.

"I'm gonna need a hel of a lot more mead," I muttered to myself while grabbing the bottles from the counter.

* * *

**Hicca POV**

Rrrrrraaaaaggghhh! That Asher! He just makes me so angry! He's managed to best me in training. Him! The boy who, not long ago, was nothing. Now he's something?! Bullshit! I swing my ax angrily at another tree. How does he do it?! How does he have such a way with the dragons? Regardless of how he does it, I will find a way back to being the top Viking. I have a village that I'll inherit someday. How good will it look to see the chief's daughter ranked behind the village nobody! I'll tell you, it won't!

I noticed that night has already fallen, so I decide to stop hitting things with my ax and go back into town and get some rest. Wow, I never bothered to see how quiet it could get out here at night. I'm still having thoughts of that fool Asher; he's hiding something, I just know it! Every day after training he runs off to the forest. What are you hiding Asher Hofferson?

As these thoughts continued to flow through my head, I spot someone walking, more like stumbling, out of the Mead Hall; I look in closer and...speak of Loki, it's just who I was looking for. I ran up as fast as I could, got in front of him, and blocked his path.

"Ohhhh, hi Hiccca," he said in a slurred voice. "Sho, you here to admit how aweshome I really ams?" Oh good Thor, he's drunk. Oh, well, bet it will be easier to get info out of him.

"Listen, I really could care less what you're doing, but you're acting weird," I began. He almost lost his footing and fell. "Well, weirder." He's acting less like an asshole, so something must be wrong.

He just stared at me with those drunken eyes. "I amsh, am I?"

"Yeah, you are. Tell me what's going on!" I stated a little harshly. He points a swaying finger at me.

"Why should I tellsh you? You're jusht-oh, oh! I know what you're problem ish. You're jusht jealoush that I'm shtylin' on yous!"

...WHAT?! Did I just hear that right? Jealous?! Oh don't make me laugh! Jealous?! jealous?! Nononono! Hel no!

I narrow my eyes at him and make the decision of walking away. I can't grill him when he's like this. I gotta get him at the right time.

As I walk away, I can hear the sound of him throwing up. Jealous?! Me?! Oh, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I, Hicca Haddock, am not jealous of..._him_.

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**AN: Yes, I've incorporated Drunk!Asher into this scene. Wanted to do something a little different. Looks like things aren't going how our blonde hero thought they would.**

**Please leave reviews in the box! :)**


	8. Some Heavy Stuff

**HEY THERE EVERYBODY! Did y'all miss me? No? Well fuck you too! Nah, I'm just teasing. Here's the next chapter featuring our favorite Viking-ess genderbent ounterpart Asher! This chapter takes place a few days after Asher's drunked encounter with Hicca.**

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(Back to Asher's POV)

Uggghhhh, great Odin's ghost, I got a bad headache. Aside from pretty much lying to everyone in this village, now I gotta put up with the strengthening suspicions of Hicca. Oh, Gods the things that would happen if she were to find out. No, no! Pull yourself together Asher, she's not gonna find out! Never, ever, ever!

As I sat there in the forge drawing, I heard a VERY loud voice shout out.

"ASHER! ASHER! OPEN UP!" the voice said. Disgruntled, I got up and moved my ass to the door opening it up. It was...

"Fishlegs?" I asked surprised.

The big guy had his usual nervous expression. "Come on, if you're late, it's gonna be a 95.999999 percent that you'll get in trouble, and 92 percent that you'll blame me, and 100 percent that Hicca will also be mad at you, and then another hundred percent that..."

I put my hand to his overly statistic mouth. "LEGS! It's too early for that shit," I reminded him.

"Sorry," he replied.

"Its ok. Just stop doing it. It's very annoying." With that said, I proceeded to fold my hair up in its usual style, get my stupid axe, and me and him walked to the Kill Ring, as I call it. I could've called it the Douche Ring, or the Retard Ring, but I was too young to swear back then.

The walk there was annoying as all Hel; swarms and swarms of fangirls calling out "Ooooh, lok it's Asher, he's so cute!" and "I want your babies" and let's not forget my all time favorite "Lick my p***y!" Seriously, a chick just yelled that out to me! Oh Thor that was so horrifying!

"How do you deal with it?" Fishlegs asked. Oh, finally! Another human beings voice that isn't Asher-crazy.

"I have no idea," I admitted. I-I did not.

As we almost arrived to the ring, Fishlegs thought it was a good idea to try to strike up a convo with me. "Asher, are you ok? You haven't exactly been yourself lately."

"And what does that mean Fishy?"

"Well, you know...being-being-well a giant jerkass." Nice way to break it Fish. I didn't know that he had it in him to swear.

"Don't call me that again. I've been going through a rather, um-I've been soul searching, you know, just thinking about life and all that shit." I can't believe I'm lying to someone like him, right to his face. He doesn't deaserve it. Damn conscience!

"Have you found your answer yet?"

"Not really."

"Asher, don't engorge yourself too much into it. I've never told anyone else this, but I kind of look up to you."

My eyes nearly bulged right the f**k out of my sockets. Holy shit on a stick!

"Really?!" I asked high-pitched.

"Yeah. Everyone would make fun of you and you would just retort with some witty or vulgar comment or action. Odin knows I could never do that. And now look at you. You're the number one in training! Gives me a little bit of hope." I really, and I mean, REALLY, hate to admit it, but my heart kind of sank at hearing that. Wow, someone besides Gobber and Toothless who doesn't think of me badly. I mean, the village likes me now, but for all the wrong reasons; if I had never found out those techniques, I still would've been Asher the Ash-hole or Asher the Useless.

Before I could respond, we had reached the ring. Today was the day they would announce who would go up against the Nightmare tomorrow. Shit. -

We were facing the Gronkle again, and through Gobber's sick and twisted process of elimination, it was down to me and Little Miss Perfect. To make matters worse, the entire village had come to watch. Why did these idiots have to come? Just why? I decided to play it safe and make it look like I was doing something, but in reality I was just moving behind barriers from time to time. A good tactic if you ask me.

I saw Hicca roll behind the barrier that I was currently behind. "Stay out of my way!" she said, glaring at me. "I'm winning this thing!" With that she rolled towards a barrier closer to the dragon.

"Ladies first," I said sarcastically. I stood and looked around the ring. I spotted the chief; oh wait until I tell you about our encounter.

_(Flashback)_

_I sat at my desk in Gobber's forge, fiddling with my pencil. I had come to draw some improvements for Toothless' saddle, but my thoughts had distracted me. 'We're fighting a war that we could go without, with a race that's practically harmless. Also, what side am I on in all of this?' The bitch's comment still burned inside of my brain. Distracted, I didn't notice Chief Stoic come in until he made a noisy entry into the room._

_"Asher my boy! How goes it!" he bellowed out._

_"Um… sorry to say, Chief, but if you're looking for Gobber, he's not here."_

_"I wasn't looking for him," the Chief answered, as he finally popped through, and stood_ up,_ towering over me, "I came to see you, young one."_

_"Me?"_

_"You've been keeping secrets I hear," he bluntly drummed out._

_Aw f**k, did he find out? No, no, he couldn't have! "Uh… I… I have?"_

_"Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?" Stoick replied, as his eyes narrowed like the sharp edge of his daughter's axe._

_What do I do? What do I do? "I… I don't know… what you're talking about…"_

_"Nothing happens in this village, or on this island, without me hearing about it," the Chief replied with a hint of annoyed anger in his voice at first, but then softened back down as he walked towards me, and stopped as they were both now five feet away from each other. "So, let's talk." He paused for dramatic effect, "… about that dragon."_

_As soon as he said that, I was so close to wetting myself. Oh, shit, he found out! HE FOUND OUT MAN! Oh Gods why me? Do you know what would happen next! The Chief and everyone else would probably hunt down and kill Toothless; and don't even get me started about the crazy shit they would do to me! Not the Blood Eagle!* Please not the f**king Blood Eagle!_

_Oh gods… no… Chief, I'm so sorry… I was going to tell you… I… I just didn't know how to…"_

_Suddenly, his face relaxed, changing into an expression of joys he busted out in loud, bellowing laughter. I was so confused; um...w-why are laughing? There is no reason for us to be laughing. Has the chief finally lost his shit? To quell the confusion, I started awkwardly laughing along with him._

_What?" Stoick asked in surprise, but regained his elation as he smiled at me, "I was hoping for this!"_

_"You... were?"_

_"Believe me, it only gets better! Just wait till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time, or mount your first Gronckle head on a spear... What a feeling!" Phew! Thought I was a goner there for a second. The Chief's just happy that I'm doing better than I was in the Ring._

_"You really had me going there! The worst Viking Berk's ever seen; Odin, it was rough, and to tell the truth, I almost gave up on you. Turns out all this time you've been holding out on me. Oh, Thor Almighty!" Coming closer, he places his hand firmly on his shoulder, "Not to mention you finally gained some meat, albeit a bit small for my taste, you're finally far from being a toothpick anymore. Your parents sure would be proud, boy!" I didn't know what to say about that tidbit on my parents. Would they be proud of me for lying?_

_My thoughts were cut as the Chief's face became solemn. "Asher, there's something that I've been wanting to give you for a while, but I never found the right occasion for it." Man, he sounded heavy, what could it be? He reached into his burlap sack looking thing and pulled out a brown headband with studs on them. "This...this belonged to your father. It was the only remnant of him that managed to not be burned off. It's yours now. Hold it, with the pride Aiden did."_

_I...I did not know what to say. Odin! I always believed that the only remnant of my mom and dad would always be that picture on the table next to my bed; but now I have a part of them, even if it is small, that I could always have._

_"Th-this was his?" I asked._

_The Chief smiled sadly. "You bet it was. Your father was magnificent, so was your mother. It brings me a sense of joy that you're living up to their memories."_

_After a few minutes of sitting there somberly, Chief Stoick decided to break the silence. "So, I guess I'll see you in the ring tomorrow then, huh?"_

_"Uh, yeah, you uh, will I guess."_

_The Chief stood up and begun his exit, but not before he called out, "And I heard what happened with you and Hicca! About time that girl learned her words have consequences!"_

_I chuckled awkwardly at that. I turned my attention to the headband that I held in my hand. What am I doing? Am I really living up to my parents' memories by practically deceiving the whole village? More importantly is the question I've been asking myself for a while now: Can I really kill a dragon?_

(Flashback End)

As I continued to look at the chief, I felt for a split second a need to kil that Gronkle and truly live up to that memory.

The feeling went away when I thought of Toothless.

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**AN: Ask yourselves what you would do in Asher's position.**


	9. Floodgates

**Yes! Ninth chapter up! Enjoy all of my followers. And don't forget to vote on my poll in my profile. Enjoy!**

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"This time," I heard Hicca whisper angrily to herself. "This time for sure!"

She leapt up from the wall and charged toward the Gronkle, waving her axe around in the air and letting out a war cry.

It stopped when she saw the Gronkle.

I looked at her with a 'help me' face as she stared at me in shock. When the Gronkle had seen me, it had immediately collapsed in front of me, hoping to get scratched behind the ears. I won didn't I?

Shit.

"NO!" Hicca screamed, and began whirling her axe around at the air, yelling out swear words and insults. Eh, I've heard worse. Gobber arrived on the scene just then.

I smiled nervously. "So, um, later," I said, trying to casually slip away. Gobber snagged the back of my vest and pulled me back. "Whup, not so fast."

I struggled against his grasp. "Gobber c'mon, I'm kinda late for some-"

"Late!" Little-Miss-Perfect said, putting the blade of her axe up to my face. "Late—for what—exactly?"

"Quiet down!" the Chief boomed over the noise of the crowd. "The elder has chosen!" Hicca calmed herself down, thank Odin, and walked over toward me and Gobber. Both of us looked up at the elder expectantly. Thor I hope he picked Hicca! Gobber lifted his artificial hand (it was an axe today) and held it above Little-Miss-Perfect's head.

Please pick her, please pick her, please pick her!

The elder sadly shook her head.

Shit.

I saw Gobber's eyes widen in shock as the crowd becan 'ooh'ing. He lowered his hand and pointed to me. I squeezed my eyes shut.

And then I heard cheering erupt all around me, and Gobber's elated voice yelling, "Asher, you've done it! You get to kill the dragon!" I slowly opened my eyes and looked directly at Hicca's brown eyes.

I've never seen eyes so intense in my life. I trembled inside at that.

The rest of the training class rushed into the ring, staring at me admiringly and cheering. Fishlegs hoisted me up onto his shoulders. The twins and Snotty waved their arms at me, hoping for high-fives. "Great," I said, waving my fist in the air unconvincingly.

OK, now I gotta do it. As of right now, after this, I'm leaving Berk. For good.

* * *

**Toothless POV**

Ahhhhhhh! This is the life! I'm away from the big dragon, no one's found out about me, and I get to hang around with my pal Asher.

Oh, and let's not forget about all the fish he brings me! Sweeeeet! Yeah, this place is definitely better than the nest. In the nest it's like Hel, I'm not even kidding. Before I was shot down by Asher, you will not believe the shit I've seen in the nest. We're forced to practically fight and kill each other for food and life. It's a war zone in there. Every single day, I see dragons getting sacrificed to the big dragon.

The big dragon, ugh, she's a bitch! She's always 'Where's my food, where's my food?' We're all forced to venture out to the villages and steal their food. And if we don't, it's down her throat we go! I really wish that I could talk to them and tell them that we dragons are the ones in trouble, but unfortunately, they would kill me in a heartbeat. When Asher comes back, I'm gonna tell him about the nest.

Speaking of Asher, I've noticed that he has sort of a different aura around him. Eh, it's probably nothing.

"Toothless" yelled out a voice from the cove. I stood up from the rock I was laying under and saw my bro Asher. He had on the harness, he's carrying some bag, and he looked so sad, it hurts.

"Hey Asher," I said in my most happy voice. He sighed.

"Hey," he said. Goodness gracious, I could hear the sadness in his voice.

"Um...you ok?" I asked. He looked at me with a stone cold expression.

"Toothless, we're-we're going on a little vacation. Forever."

I was so confused. Why are we leaving? What's going on?

* * *

**Asher's POV**

"What? Why?" Toothless asked, with a confused expression. I know the big lug kinda likes it here, but we have to leave-I have to leave. I set my bag down that had most of my possessions.

"Look, that doesn't matter right now, all you need to know is that we're leaving, so let me get on," I demanded. I was in for a shock when my dragon backed up.

"No," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"You heard me Asher. Look, I don't know what's going on with you, but I'm sure it can't be that bad." I groaned and facepalmed.

"It isn't any of your business Toothless. Now let's go," I replied back harder.

"Asher, you me are friends, right?" I raised an eyebrow at that.

"Yes."

"Well, don't you think that friends share things with each other?"

"Not in this case. I've had enough, let's go. NOW!" I gritted my teeth in anger.

"Had enough of what exactly?" He just had to make things more difficult than what they really were.

I huffed furiously. "EVERYTHING! OK! EVERY-F**KING-THING! YOU HAPPY?!"

Toothless still had a calm expression on his face. "OK, now we're getting somewhere. Tell me Asher, what is everything exactly?" I crossed my arms. Him, a dragon, trying to understand human problems? If Toothless wasn't my friend, I'd be laughing.

"Oh, you wouldn't understand, you're a dragon, you don't have to worry about bullshit like this." The black dragon refused to move. He had a hard look on his face, which I didn't think was possible on animal, let alone a dragon.

"Try me," he replied, steely. I ran a hand through my matted ropes of hair.

"You really wanna know? Fine, where the Hel do I start? Oh I know, how about before I met you. How about four to five years ago, back when everyone just f**king adored Asher the Screw-Up?" I began sarcastically. "Let's go back to that wonderful time shall we Toothless? I was small, couldn't lift a hammer, everyone picked on me, the girl who I had a crush on practically hated me, and to be honest, I kinda hated myself. Who wouldn't if they were in my position?!" I shouted at the end. I sighed and recomposed myself.

"But, there was this one day I'll never forget. I was trying to find some trolls, yeah it kinda sounds stupid, and I was in the forest area, and I met my very first friend. Her name was Seraphim, and you could not believe how happy I was. She was the only one who taught me how to have a sliver of f**king confidence in myself. I thought we were gonna be friends forever." I felt a few tears come on; f**k Asher, don't cry now!

"But fate had to be a bitch going through her monthly cycle. There was a dragon attack, and me and Seraphim were thinking about ways to stop the dragons, we were next to this wooden building, and the dragons spotted us. We ran like Hel, we ran in opposite directions, so I quickly lost her." A tear fell down from my face. "After I lost the dragon I went to find her, and she was lying on the ground, burnt up. I remember the look in her only eye that wasn't burned. It was screaming 'help me Asher.' So I dragged her back to the village, and everyone started blaming me. 'It was the Screw Up', 'You caused this' 'It's your fault!' I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT! IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

I slumped to the ground and cried for the first time in many years. Under any normal circumstance, I wouldn't let anyone else see me like this, but this is Toothless, I can trust him.

"SERAPHIM!" I yelled in agony.

I could hear Toothless shuffling toward me, and the next thing I knew, he had his wing draped over me.

"I-It wasn't my fault Toothless!"

Toothless shushed me as he continued to have his wing draped over me. "I know, Asher, I know it's not your fault."

I wiped the tears from my eyes. "And you know what's worse Toothless?"

"What?"

"They-they're making me kill a dragon tomorrow." I didn't want to tell him, but I couldn't help myself.

"Good Odin, are you serious?!" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah, that's why I want to get us the Hel out of here," I replied, voice still wracked with sorrow. "I have no idea what I'm gonna do bud. I've never been so f**king confused and scared in my life."

He uncovered his wing from me and I looked at his big eyes. I could see an empathy in his eyes that I never saw in any other human being besides Seraphim.

"Are you sure you wanna go through with this?" the dragon asked me. I was about to answer, but suddenly, a voice rang from the trees.

"HOFFERSON!" Shit, I recognize that voice, it was Hicca. Damn! How'd she find me?

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**AN: Phew, that was one emotionally exhausting** **chapter, wasn't it?**

**BTW: What is your opinion on who should be the voice for talking Toothless?**


	10. Hicca Finds Out

"Crap," I said, turning back to see shuffling in the bushes. I turned back to my dragon buddy, no, brother, with anxious eyes.

"Who is that?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Shhh, Toothless hide," I said as he ducked behind a rock. I turned around to see Hicca Haddock approaching me with the intensity of a tiger. My goodness, she's awfully calm for a girl who probably wants to rip my head off and put it on a platter. I put on my indifferent face.

"Oh, uh, weird s-seeing you, uh, h-here," I said, my voice contradicting my expression. Her eyes, her chocolate eyes (forget I said that) narrowed.

The girl lifted her axe and then turned to face me. "I wanna to know what's going on." she said dangerously, "No one just gets as good as you do. Especially you."

"That hurts my feelings," I said, letting my sarcasm sink in. Not a very good idea if you're dealing with an angry chick.

She advanced on me and I stepped back in response. "Start talking," she hissed, "And it better not involve this," she finished, gesturing to my harness.

Alright Hofferson, think, think! What could I say to keep Hicca from discovering Toothless? Odin knows that girl would blab to the first authority figure she sees, AKA: the Chief.

I was jolted from my thoughts when I heard a growl from behind the rock. Toothless, not now! Hicca was making her way toward there when I grabbed her shoulders and tried to shield the view.

"Y-you know what, you're uh, you're right. I've been hiding something, and I can't take it anymore with the lies," I said, watching her raise an eyebrow. "I have been...secretly making outfits. Yep, just call me Asher the Seamstress," I finished, chuckling nervously.

Don't judge me, it was the only thing I could come up with.

Hicca's response was to punch me in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me. "B-bi-itch," I wheezed out painfully while slumping to the ground.

"That's for the lies," Hicca announced before she used the butt of her axe to hit me in my side, "...and that's for everything else." Ow, that hurt so much! Man does she know how to use an axe.

Then, I heard a rustling in the wind and the next thing I knew, I saw Toothless pounce on Hicca, pinning her to the ground. Oh, no! No! Our cover's been blown!

"Toothless!" I shouted, making my dragon turn his head toward me.

"OK Asher, who is this chick and why is she trying to pummel you?" he asked angrily. Oh, Toothless, always the protector you are.

Because I did not want to have another dead body on my conscience I said to him "No, no, it's okay. She's uh, sh-she's a friend."

Toothless looked at me unconvincingly but he relented. "Yeah, whatever you say man. And 'making outfits,' really," he jabbed. I blushed in response.

"Come on, it was the only thing I could think of," I tried to tell him. He rolled his eyes.

I looked over at Hicca, who's eyes were as wide as Berk's handmade shields. If this were any other situation, this would be downright freakin' hilarious.

"Um, so uh...yeah, Toothless this is Hicca, Hicca this is my pal Toothless," I introduced, trying to break the tension. The Chief's daughter shook her head in disbelief.

"You...you are soooooo busted," she said and quickly ran off. Oh, this is not good. Not good at all. Do you know what will happen once she blabs it? Oh, good Thor I'm dead. I am now officially screwed. Oh and Toothless too, I didn't forget. I swear!

"Yippee, we're dead," I said sarcastically.

"Well, hop on my back bro," Toothless advised.

"What?"

"You wanted to get out of here, didn't you?"

I sighed, trying to calm my rising anxiety. "Bud, if we leave right now and she tells the chief, every Viking in a ten-mile radius would be after us."

"What's so bad about that?" Toothless countered.

"Do you really want to live your life on the lam from a bunch of bloodthirsty Vikings?"

I saw Toothless expression change from indifference to worry. "You're right Asher! Oh, oh Thor, oh Thor, oh Thor, what are we gonna do?!" he shouted frantically. He began to run around in circles in a very overdramatic fashion. To calm him down, I grabbed both ends of his snout and gazed just as frantically in his eyes.

"Calm down bud, calm down! You're making it worse! Now listen, I have a plan alright. Now work with me here; we're gonna catch Hicca and forc-I mean-convince her to not tell anyone about me and you. Can you do that?"

Toothless nodded his head, and I smiled at him. "Good. It'll be all right, bud," I said soothingly. I got onto his back and we took off to find us a shieldmaiden and tort-I mean-convince her that Toothless and I are the good guys.

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**Hicca's POV**

I can't believe it! I got him! I...I nailed him! I knew something was fishy with Hofferson the moment he won his first victory, but I never thought it would be this big! Now I'm gonna be the one to bring him down a peg or a lot. I can't wait to see the look on his face. Hahaha! Hicca Valhallarama Haddock will always get the last laugh!

Now you might say that I'm being motivated by nothing more than jealousy! I say you're retarded for thinking that. It goes beyond jealousy, it really does. I'M supposed to be number one! That should be me fighting against the Nightmare tomorrow. But noooooo, they picked the village screw-up/ asshole and gave him that honor. Can they see that I've been working my ass off for this opportunity! I'm not just gonna let some two-bit nobody get the better of me, you best believe that!

"Wait until dad hears about this. Bye bye for you, douchebag," I said to myself as I ran through the trees as fast as I could. I know you're wondering 'Hicca, come on, Asher's had it kinda rough. Give the dude a break.' Just because he's had it rough than others does not mean he has to be a complete douche about it and take his problems out on us. And let's not forget: he cheated to be better than me!

As I continued to run through rough terrain, I felt myself be lifted from the ground by something...I look up to see it's Hofferson and the Night Fury. I'm gonna admit, right now, I kinda fear for my life. A LOT!

"Oh great Odin's ghost! OH, this is it!" I shouted in fear. Not something I do often mind you. I clung to the dragon's arm so that I wouldn't plummet down to the round. They eventually dropped me at a very high tree branch and I could feel the dragon balancing on the branch, bending it in the process.

I opened my eyes to see Asher Hofferson's smug little grin. "Hey Hicca! How's it going," he said jovially. "Look, uh, about what you saw, let me explain-"

"I am NOT listening to anything you have to say," I said, cutting him off. He still had that smug grin on his face. Wish I could just punch it off of him! Jerkwad!

"Really now?" he said inquisitively.

"You damn right!" I replied back. I wanna get down, I wanna get down, I wanna get down, I wanna get down!

Hofferson put his fist under his chin and made a thinking pose. "Well, considering the position you're in you have two choices Hicca: you can a) hop on Toothless and I'll show you just how cool and harmless dragons are, or b) me and my bud here can leave you up here to hang. Assuming you didn't tell anyone where you were going, I would say that it would take an extremely long time for someone to notice your missing and set out to find you. So what do you say," he finished holding his hand out to me.

Damn! I hate to admit it, but he had me in a corner. I'm hanging on a very high branch, I didn't tell anyone where I was going, and lastly, I'm scared out of my wits and probably about to pee myself.

"If I were you right now, I'd probably go for the first choice," the dragon said. Oh sweet Odin, the dragon talks. IT TALKS! Can this day get anymore weird and frightening?

"No answer huh? OK Toothless, let's go," Asher said.

"Wait, wait, wait wait!" I said, voice sounding more scared and frantic than I intended.

"Yeah?" he said expectantly.

"I'll-I'll come," I replied, defeated. I grabbed Hofferson's hand and he pulled me aboard the Night Fury's back.

"Now get me down," I hissed.

"Alright, alright. Toothless, down, _gently_," he instructed, for some reason drawing out on the word gently. When the Night Fury spread it's wings, he and Asher shared a look and...soared high into the air like a bat out of Hel.

I clenched my arms tightly around Hofferson's midsection and started screaming at the top of my lungs. Oh Odin, help me please! Help me please!

To my surprise, Hofferson was cheering. "WHHHOOOOOO! Hel yeah! Awesome!" he shouted out. "Do the dive, just like we practiced bud!"

"All the way down?" the NightFury asked.

"All the way down!" Asher reassured. We began to plummet down until we hit the water. After coming back up, we started soaring back up again.

"Should I do it man?" the dragon asked.

"OH Hel yeah the spinning!" Asher said happily. Then, we started spinning, very fast I might add. I held onto Asher's waist tighter if it was possible.

"Now, about what you just saw," Asher said out of the blue. I can't take this anymore. Screw trying to look strong, I'm scared to death right now!

"I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, JUST PLEASE GET ME DOWN!" I shrilled, very close to bursting into tears. And as if Odin answered my prayer, we stopped spinning. Thank you Odin, I'll never disrespect you again!

Asher looked at me again with that smug smirk. "Wasn't so hard wasn't it?" he asked cheekily. I said nothing in response, I was just so glad that the torture was over. We continued to fly around and I have to admit...it is beautiful. The view is perfect, the Northern Lights is visible, and that sunset, oh that sunset. It just adds a more peaceful element to it, you know!

"I have to admit, this is kind of cool," I said in wonder.

"Told you. And Toothless, what did I say? Plan was gonna work wasn't it?"

"Wow Asher, I'm impressed about the fact that she's not trying to rip your head off," the dragon, Toothless, replied.

"I do my best," Asher replied back, obviously loving the praise. Before I was able to give my two cents, Asher and I felt Toothless body tense up. We immediately dove into the clouds.

"Toothless buddy, what's wrong," Asher asked in concern.

"We're getting close guys," Toothless answered.

"Close? Close to what?" I asked.

"The Dragon's Nest."

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**Cliffhangerrrrrr! Dun-dun-dun! Next chapter our trio enters the Dragon's Nest! Stay tuned!**


	11. The Nest and Life Lessons

**Hello everyone, I am back and here's another chappie of our hero Asher. Enjoy y'all, especially my followers.**

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**Asher's POV**

"Um Toothless," I began nervously, "what exactly goes on at the Dragon's Nest?"

Toothless ignored me as we continued to fly. Suddenly, a roar emerged from behind us.

"Guys get down!" Toothless scolded, his voice sounding uncharacteristically urgent. Hicca and I ducked down as we saw hundreds, possibly thousands of dragons emerging from the clouds, ranging from Terrible Terrors to Monstrous Nightmares.

"What's going on?" Hicca asked me.

"I have no idea," I whispered back, not wanting to attract attention. I noticed that most of the dragons flying with us were carrying dead animals, from sheep to cows to fish.

"They must be hauling in their kill," I said quietly to Hicca.

"If that's the case, w-what does that make us?" she said in a panicked voice.

We continued to fly with the other dragons until we reached a volcano which, judging by the looks of it, was inactive. We dived in and I scanned the area.

Dear Odin and the guardians of Valhalla, look at this place! It's freakin' huge! There's levels for diffeent dragon breeds and families, and in the middle, a vast, gaping hole almost half the size of Berk encased in fog.

"What my dad would give to see this," Hicca said in wonder.

Toothless landed on a ledge that was furthest away from the hole, where we saw a lot of the dragons crowding around. They droppped the fish and the other livestock from Berk into the hole for some odd reason. What the hell?

"Interesting to know that they're putting our food to great use," I said with my signature sarcasm.

"They're not eating any of it," Hicca said in confusion.

"That's because it's not for us," Toothless said in response to Hicca's statement. "Just keep watching."

A Gronckle flew over the hole with the other dragons retreating into their ledges, looking terrified. The Gronckle puked up a fish, letting it slide from his tongue into the hole (disgusting). He flew away, trying to reach a ledge, but enormous jaws came up and trapped him. I saw a flash of teeth longer than a man's arm, and shuddered. I drew back from the horrifying scene as the Gronckle was swallowed whole by the monster that was inside of the hole.

Hicca gripped my arm tighly. "What. The hell. Is that thing?"

"We call her the Red Death," Toothless replied, equally terrified.

I saw the Death's nostrils flare up. "Shit! She can smell us. Toothless, we gotta go. NOW!" Without any hesitation, Toothless flew me and Hicca out of the Nest.

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Hicca rarely stopped talking after what we saw at the Dragon's Nest.

"It's like a big beehive! And that's the queen!"

"Bingo! You're right on the dot. That's partially the reason why I left," Toothless said. Wait a minute-what?

"Hold on a second, so you weren't trying to get food for the big dragon or whatever, you were leaving?!" I said in a shocked voice.

"Yeah I had been planning on leaving for a while, so I used that raid as a cover-up for my departure."

"Why did you try to leave in the first place?" Hicca asked.

"Well, I was really tired of taking all of her shit. She's a bitch," Toothless began, "and..."

"And what," I pried in.

"It gets lonely up there, what with no other dragons like me. I haven't had sex in like, forever! I wanna find another dragon like me so I can get with her, cuddle up and make dragon bab-"

"OK, OK, OK, too much information there," I interrupted. He might be my buddy and all, but I really, _really_ do not wanna hear what dragon sex is like. The mere thought sends a shudder down my back.

"Sorry," Toothless said sheepishly. Hicca laughed at his awkwardness. Wow, so she does have other emotions than jealousy or rage. I'm impressed.

We landed back on Berk at the cove. Hicca and I smoothly slipped off of Toothless, with her previous trepidation gone. "We have to tell my dad about this," Hicca said, quickly running off.

"No Hicca!" I shouted, sppeding off after her. I managed to get ahead of her and stop her in her tracks. "No, please, you can't tell Chief Stoic, he'll get every other Viking and kill Toothless." The idea of losing another friend was too much for me, also coupled with having another dead body on my conscience.

Hicca looked at me with a skeptical look. "Asher, come on! This-this is the Dragon's Nest we're talking about. The thing our ancestors have been searching for ever since they arrived on this island centuries ago! And you wanna keep it hidden? Just to protect your pet dragon?!"

"Hey! I am not his pet!" Toothless said, clearly offended.

I looked back at Hicca with a steely, focused look on my face. "You bet your ass I do! He's pretty much the only friend I've got. Well aside from Fishlegs, he's kinda cool. You have to understand Hicca I-I don't wanna lose him," I finished softly.

"What are you gonna do? You know you're gonna have to kill a dragon tomorrow," Hicca said.

I ran my hands through my hair. "I know, I know. Look I'll try and think of something by tomorrow, but in the meantime, you can't tell anyone."

"Uh, o-okay," she said with uncertainty. She then proceeded to punch me in the shoulder.

"Ow! Shit, what was that for?!" I asked.

"That's for kidnapping and scaring me," she replied. Hicca, I had to do that, to make sure you wouldn't tell anyone. But it was kinda funny though! Hehehe!

What she did next shocked me: she came up to me and hugged me.

"And this is for... that spectacular ride," she finished. After a few seconds, she released me.

"Um, yeah, thanks I guess?" I answered awkwardly. "Oh, and Hicca?"

"Yeah?"

"I uh-listen I-I'm sorry for what happened that one day, you know with the whole fight and all?"

"Oh. I-It wasn't your fault really, it was mine. I shouldn't have mentioned your um...departed parents," she said guiltily.

"No, no, it's uh, it's cool," I responded back.

"Oh, okay. So...later," she finished, speeding off to Berk. I saw Toothless fly over toward me with a big grin on his face. I did not like that grin, not one bit.

"What?"

"I saw you over there, getting some huggin' action!"

"S-so?"

Toothless raised a non-existent eyebrow at me. "Think she's hot?"

I turned an intense red. "W-what?!"

"Come on Asher. Tell your best friend Toothless," he said.

"I-I-I don't like her!" I quickly assured him. Even though I lost my crush on her, I did have to admit though, Hicca was attractive. I kinda liked the way the night brought out her green eyes. I liked the way her brown hair blew in the wind.

W-wait, what am I saying? I don't like her again! Nope, nuh-uh, no f***ing way.

Toothless rolled his eyes. "Sure you don't. Well Asher, I'm sure you have to go now."

"Nah, I got a little more time," I told him.

"Oh cool," Toothless said. "There was something I wanted to tell you. You know the story you told me right?"

"Um, yeah?"

Toothless face took on a more somber appearance. "Well about that Asher, you see, agh how can I explain this? There are some things that are just, you know, destined to happen. Maybe Odin or some other higher power is doing it for a reason, maybe not. But we cannot let those events, be it tragic or not, cloud our logic, case in point what happened with your dead friend."

I winced slightly; Seraphim was not one of my favorite topics to talk about.

Toothless took notice of my uneasiness and continued. "Now-Now hear me out Asher, yes her death was sad and the reaction of everyone else was unjustified. Still, you can't harbor all of those negative feelings against them. You're only going to hurt yourself in the long run."

"You think so bud," I ansked. I never really thought about it that way. I was just giving them the same hostility that I felt. Which worked against me, I might add.

Toothless nodded. "Yep. Take it from me, a dragon that's also lost a friend and harbored anger against others."

My ears perked up. "Wait, you lost a friend too?" I asked.

"Yeah. I won't get into specifics right now, but all I can tell you is that her death was so quick and unexpected. It was like-"

"-your whole world crashed around you," I finished for him.

"You got it. I was hurt. I was angry. And in that time, I nearly let my anguish destroy me completely. But I realized what was happening and I got out of it. Don't let your feelings of hurt tear you down Asher."

I was so moved, I-I was speechless. I never knew I would be taking a life lesson like this. From a _dragon_, no less.

I finally managed to find my voice. "Th-Thanks bud."

"No problem Asher," he said.

I walked back to my house and thought about what was going to go down tomorrow. I'm gonna do it, I am going to convince them that dragons aren't bad.

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**Please leave some reviews, I'm lacking them. :)**


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